Veterans Paralympic Act of 2013

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce my first bill as a US Senator. It has been delivered to the desk. The bill is the Troop Talent Act of 2013. I am pleased to note it is cosponsored by Senator Saxby Chambliss and Senator Max Baucus.

The bill begins with a problem which I know concerns all Americans, the unemployment rate of our veterans. Currently, the national unemployment rate average is 7.6 percent, but the unemployment rate for veterans is 9.4 percent. That unemployment rate is particularly acute for veterans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We can't be comfortable if we see the statistic that our veterans have a higher unemployment rate than the national average. It should be otherwise.

In Virginia, where one in nine of our citizens, one in nine of our 8 million citizens from birth to death is a veteran, this is a particularly acute challenge. Frankly, it is only going to get worse as more and more people exit military service in the drawdown from Afghanistan.

What is the reason for the veterans' unemployment rate being higher than the national average? Some of the reasons have to do with medical challenges and issues which are in the province of the VA. I learned of another reason as I was campaigning across the State for 19 months. I heard stories from veterans, and they would say the following: I was in the military. I was a battlefield medic. I got out of the military and tried to get a job as a physician's assistant or a nurse, and I was told I had no credit for all my military service as I tried to transition into the civilian world.

Another stated: I maintained Naval aviation engines for 20 years. Then when I finished and tried to do the same thing on the civilian side, I was told I had to go back and start as if I had no experience.

Another: I operated heavy equipment, but I was told I would need a commercial driver's license.

Many of the members of our military--all of them are gaining skills along the way, but they go into a civilian workforce where their skills and talents are not recognized. In some ways this is a feature of an all-volunteer military. When we had a draft and men were compelled to serve, someone departing military service would go into the workforce and say they were a gunnery sergeant in the Marine Corps or an E-5 in the Navy, and someone in the workforce would know what it was they had done.

Today only 1 percent of our adults serve in the military. We appreciate what our military members do, but we don't understand their technical skills or their leadership talent.

This is the genesis for the Troop Talent Act of 2013. It is to make sure military members, while they are active, are getting recognized, credentialed credit for the skills they obtain, which will help them get immediate traction back into the civilian workforce.

The True Talent Act has three pillars: The first is the credentialing of military members for the skills they have obtained and the sharing of information between the military branches about the skills they have with servicemembers, the private sector, and with agencies who would credential them with a civilian credential. This is the first pillar, credentialing people for the skills people obtain.

The second pillar is a bit of a policing function. Sometimes folks will prey upon people leaving the military and say: Pay me $500, and I will administer a test which will give you a credential. Then it turns out their credential is worthless.

The VA had a working committee to police these credential-granting agencies to ensure no one was being ripped off. That committee no longer is in service. This bill would restart it.

Finally, the last thing this bill would do would be to take one particular industry sector, information technology, where there is a huge need to hire people and where our military members have significant skills, and this will accelerate credentialing traction for those members back into the military workforce.

There is a current pilot project DOD is working on with certain specialties but not IT. This would seek to expand the pilot programs to add IT to the list where people are credentialed.

In conclusion, this is about doing what the Nation should do for our servicemembers and making sure they receive the traction they deserve for the service they provided. It is not just about the members themselves, it is also about us. We have invested in our service men and women. They have skills, technical and leadership skills, which would help our society be more successful. To the extent we do not allow them traction back in the civilian life, we are not only depriving them, we are depriving ourselves of their strengths and talents.

I am pleased to introduce this bill and honored to have Senators Baucus and Chambliss as cosponsors.

Mr. President, today I am offering legislation correcting Obamacare's definition of a ``full-time'' employee to allow employees to work 40 hours a week without triggering penalties on the businesses that hire them. Currently, Obamacare defines an employee working just 30 hours a week as ``full time.''

Because Obamacare uses an unreasonably low threshold of 30 hours a week to define ``full time'' employees, some businesses are restricting their employees to no more than 29 hours of work per week, to ensure that their workers are considered ``part time'' for purposes of Obamacare. This is a consequence of the substantial penalties Obamacare imposes on businesses that reach a threshold of 50 ``full time'' employees, unless they provide expensive health care coverage which many small businesses simply can't afford.

The penalties imposed by Obamacare begin at $40,000 for businesses with 50 employees, plus $2,000 for each additional ``full-time equivalent'' employee. These penalties serve as a huge disincentive for businesses to grow or add jobs, particularly for firms close to the 50- job trigger.

One Maine business I know has 47 employees, and it would like to hire more but won't because of these onerous penalties. If more businesses follow suit, millions of American workers could find their hours, and their earnings, cut back. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics nearly 10.5 million Americans work between 30 and 35 hours per week. Another 9.7 million work between 35 and 40 hours per week. My bill will help protect these Americans who may otherwise find their hours curtailed and their earnings cut as a result of Obamacare.

Obamacare's definition of a ``full time'' employee is completely out- of-keeping with standard employment practices in the U.S. today. According to the American Time of Use Survey published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average American works 8.8 hours per day, which equates to 44 hours per week. Under Obamacare, working only 30 hours a week is considered ``full-time''--nearly one-third lower than actual practice.

Likewise, the Obamacare definition of ``full-time'' employee is one- quarter lower than the 40 hours per week used by the GAO in its study of the budget and staffing required by the Internal

Revenue Service to implement Obamacare. In that report, the GAO described a ``full time equivelant,'' or ``FTE,'' as: ``a measure of staff hours equal to those of an employee who works 2,080 hours per year, or 40 hours per week for 52 weeks.''

During consideration of the Budget resolution last month, the Senate adopted my amendment calling for legislation setting a more sensible definition of a ``full time'' employee for purposes of Obamacare penalties. That amendment was endorsed by the National Association of Manufacturers, and the National Education Association. The fact that these two organzitions--typically thought of as bookends on the political spectrum--would agree that Obamacare's definition of a ``full-time'' employee is broken illustrates how out-of-step it truly is.

Under my bill, a ``full time'' employee would be someone who works a 40-hour week. This is a sensible definition in keeping with actual practice. I urge my colleagues to support it.

Mr. President, today I rise to reintroduce legislation that will authorize the Bureau of Reclamation to share in the cost of the construction of a new wastewater treatment plant for Hermiston, Oregon. This is the same bill that was passed by the House of Representatives, by voice vote, in the 111th Congress and reported by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee without opposition that Congress as well. I look forward to working with supporters of this bill to advance this important reclamation project.

The city of Hermiston will be responsible for the lion's share of this project. CBO has estimated that the Federal share of the $26 million project would be $7 million or just over \1/4\ of the cost. Once constructed, the plant will provide the Bureau of Reclamation- authorized West Extension Irrigation District with enough additional high-quality water per year to irrigate approximately 600 acres of high value crops. This will have a significant, long-term benefit to the farming industry in the Hermiston area.

The Hermiston project has gotten the sign-off at every level from the local irrigation district to Federal agencies. The city and the bureau have completed the required feasibility report and the bureau of reclamation has formally concluded that the project meets the requirements of the Title XVI cost-sharing program. The regional office of the National Marine Fisheries Service at NOAA has completed a biological opinion approving the project. The city and the West Extension Irrigation District have signed a memorandum of understanding to work together to develop the project. The bureau has concluded its environmental review of the authorization to transfer the water to they district and issued a finding of no significant impact, or FONSI.

The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation have also recognized the benefits of the project and support it. These benefits include a significant improvement in the quality of water discharged to the Umatilla River in winter and protection of sensitive fish habitat during summer. These benefits have led the tribe to endorse construction of the Hermiston Water Recycling System Improvement Project and the city's effort to obtain Federal funding.

This project will increase agricultural production while improving the local economy, the environment and habitat for endangered fish. I intend to

work with colleagues to complete action on legislation that has advanced so far in previous Congresses.

Mr. President, physical activity offers injured members of the Armed Forces and veterans additional opportunities for rehabilitation for both physical and mental health. Using the expertise of the United States Olympic Committee to work with local programs is a great tool to help our veterans improve their quality of life. The U.S. Paralympic Integrated Adaptive Sports Program partners with local organizations to develop programs and skills that meet the needs of our wounded warriors. As a result of this legislation, the program has reached more than 5,000 participants in more than 150 communities in 46 States and has successfully collaborated with 85 VA Medical Centers in 39 States to provide adaptive sports programs to veterans in their local communities through outreach programs, training, practices, camps, clinics, and competitions. For this reason, Senator Begich and I are introducing Veterans Paralympic Act of 2013, which would extend the authorization for the U.S. Paralympic Integrated Adaptive Sports Program through 2018.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, physical activity offers injured members of the Armed Forces and veterans additional opportunities for rehabilitation for both physical and mental health. Using the expertise of the United States Olympic Committee to work with local programs is a great tool to help our veterans improve their quality of life. The U.S. Paralympic Integrated Adaptive Sports Program partners with local organizations to develop programs and skills that meet the needs of our wounded warriors. As a result of this legislation, the program has reached more than 5,000 participants in more than 150 communities in 46 States and has successfully collaborated with 85 VA Medical Centers in 39 States to provide adaptive sports programs to veterans in their local communities through outreach programs, training, practices, camps, clinics, and competitions. For this reason, Senator Begich and I are introducing Veterans Paralympic Act of 2013, which would extend the authorization for the U.S. Paralympic Integrated Adaptive Sports Program through 2018.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.